The French encouraged natives to play football and other introduced sports, partly to divert their interest from politics but also because of local enthusiasm.

[21] Two months before independence accords, the earliest recognized international game of Vietnam was on 16 January 1949, in a 3-3 draw against South Korea in Saigon, French Cochinchina.

South Vietnam even qualified for the 1956 Summer Olympics after defeating Cambodia in both home and away matches but then refused to participate in the finals in Australia.

North and South regions ceased to exist when they were de jure reunited into the Socialist Republic in 1976 following the end of the Vietnam War.

Vietnam's 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign had some bright moments, with the team winning three matches and drawing one, all played in Dammam.

[citation needed] The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification was a low point for Vietnam, with the team once again failing, losing to South Korea and Lebanon, and only finishing above Maldives on goal difference.

Losing both matches against China, including the huge 6–1 loss in Hangzhou, Vietnam at least had the slight consolation of scoring a single goal in both games.

The defeat to Hong Kong at Mong Kok Stadium on 22 March 2013 was considered Vietnam's lowest point set in the 21st century.

The 2012 AFF Championship also saw the team's worst performance in 8 years, as they were eliminated in the group stage with their only point coming from a 1–1 draw with Myanmar, while losing 3–1 to Thailand and 1–0 to the Philippines.

[31] Vietnamese police had sought to investigate this match, but found no evidence of bribery or corruption, as stated in the findings of Swiss-based international supplier betting services Sportradar.

Park Hang-seo, former assistant to Guus Hiddink for South Korea at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, was appointed as the new coach of the Vietnam national team on 29 September 2017.

The first leg at Bukit Jalil saw Vietnam lead by two goals, but let the Malayan tigers tie the score through Shahrul Saad and a free kick by Safawi Rasid.

Being drawn into group D along with Iran, Iraq, and Yemen, Vietnam lost to Iraq 2–3 conceding a 90th-minute free kick from Ali Adnan and Iran 0–2 before beating Yemen 2–0 in their final group matches with goals coming from Nguyễn Quang Hải and Quế Ngọc Hải to seal Vietnam to become the last best third-place team qualifying for the round of 16.

[52] In the quarter-finals, Vietnam played against Japan but failed to continue the success after their opponent was awarded a penalty kick which was decided through the video assistant referee (VAR), resulting in a 0–1 loss score by Ritsu Dōan until the final whistle was blown.

After trailing 3–0, a late surge in the final 10 minutes brought 2 goals on the scoresheet for Vietnam, but it wasn't enough as the match ended 3–2 in favour of UAE.

Despite losing however, with Australia defeating Jordan 1–0 in the decisive game of Group B and later Saudi Arabia beating Uzbekistan 3–0 in the decisive game of Group D, Vietnam officially claimed its ticket into the third and final round of the World Cup qualifiers for the first time ever, and automatic qualification to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China, after entering as one of the five best runner-ups, the second Southeast Asian nation after Thailand to achieve the feat.

[67] On 16 February 2023, VFF announced that Frenchman Philippe Troussier, who led South Africa and Japan to the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups, had been appointed coach of the Vietnam national team and the under-23s.

[68] Troussier signed a contract that last until 31 July 2026, with an ambitious goal of taking Vietnam to the next FIFA World Cup in 2026, where the biggest men’s international football tournament plans to increase the number of participating teams to 48 from 32.

[71][72] Vietnam started its 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification from the second round of the AFC, drawn in a group with Iraq, Philippines, and Indonesia.

[74] In June 2023, Troussier made his debut with the Vietnamese national team with two friendly match wins against Hong Kong and Syria.

[78] The first two qualifiers games saw Troussier renewing the team's starting lineup with several young players such as Phan Tuấn Tài, Võ Minh Trọng or Nguyễn Thái Sơn.

[79] Vietnam qualified for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and were grouped with Japan, Iraq, and Indonesia in Group D.[80] At the dawn of the tournament, the team left with many doubts due to the absence of key players like Đặng Văn Lâm, Đoàn Văn Hậu, Quế Ngọc Hải or Nguyễn Tiến Linh due to injuries.

New hard blows were then added with the forfeit of Nguyễn Hoàng Đức, 2021 Vietnamese Golden Ball, who also failed to recover from his injury.

[82][83] In the final group stage game against Iraq, Vietnam had a good start while leading 1–0 after the first half, but the team soon fell into a disadvantage position after Khuất Văn Khang was sent off.

In the last minute of the game, Iraq was awarded a penalty and converted it, ending the match as 2–3 lost for Vietnam, forcing them to leave the tournament with 0 points.

[84] Continuing on with 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, Vietnam suffered further losses to Indonesia on 21 and 26 March with an aggregate score of 0–4, with the return leg, which ended 0–3, being the first defeat to the Garuda at home in 20 years.

[126][127] There are two major supporters' clubs for the national team, namely Vietnam Football Supporters (VFS, Vietnamese: Hội Cổ động viên Bóng đá Việt Nam) which was founded in 2014 and Vietnam Golden Stars (VGS, Vietnamese: Hội Cổ động viên Sao vàng Việt Nam) which was founded in 2017.

Despite this, Vietnam, since reintegration into the world's football, is renowned for its performance of punching above the weight, often due to its ability to culminate surprise results despite disadvantages, while Thailand has struggled harder to do the same.

In the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the two teams confronted in the group stage in a game that ended in a 1–0 victory for Indonesia, which qualify them to the round of 16 while Vietnam got eliminated.

Since the country's reunification, the rivalry continued when the two teams regularly faced off at regional tournaments like the AFF Championship or SEA Games.